Notes from the road

I'm back home in good ol' St. Louis, the Gateway City, home of the Cardinals, Blues, Rams, Imo's Pizza, toasted ravioli, Chuck Berry, Nelly, and the bowling hall of fame. I made it in my usual ~13 hour trip from Chapel Hill. It was one of the smoother roadtrips because I didn't run into too much traffic, even though I almost got rear-ended by two cars during a sudden stop in St. Louis due to a car accident by the Galleria.

Notes from the road:

North Carolina: What a beautiful state. I dare to call it the most beautiful state not on the west coast. West of Winston-Salem, I saw a really tall flagpole by I-40 with an American flag and a Confederate flag right below it. Sometimes I forget that I live in the South since Chapel Hill and most of the Triangle doesn't really feel like the South. I made to Asheville in a little over 3 hours, which is a new record (it usually takes about 4 hours). I love Asheville. It's probably the only other place in North Carolina I'd consider living in.

Tennessee: Also a pretty state to drive through, mostly. But it's rednecks and Christian-right galore. Lots of large cities (and medium-size cities) are ugly to drive through, but Knoxville takes the cake. What a fucking dump. It's like the world's largest truckstop. I have lots of mix cds to listen to, and they really helped me tolerate this drive. And mix cds are the best on roadtrips, although I have to say that the Fucking Champs' IV is an awesome roadtrip album. I rocked out to it while driving through Nashville.

Kentucky: Not much going on in this state. Their car license plates are the pussiest license plates I've ever seen. It's a picture of a sunrise, and the sun has a fucking smiley face drawn on it. Jesus, even the queer eye for the straight guy dudes would call that gay. I listened to a lot of Black Dice and Wolf Eyes through Kentucky, which surprisingly makes for good and soothing roadtrip music when you're by yourself. As I was about to leave Kentucky for Illinois, I noticed that the miles tracker below the speedometer read 666. I wonder what if that means anything...

Illinois: What a shitty state. The southern tip of Illinois isn't too bad, but when people think of the stereotypical midwest with just flat land and nothing worthwhile to see, I don't understand why Illinois isn't typically included with the likes of Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, etc. (Leave Missouri out of it...it ain't the best, but it's a hell of a lot better than those states.) The drive from St. Louis to Chicago doesn't take too long, but it sucks due to how shitty Illinois is. Fuck that state. The only two redeeming things I can think of Illinois are Chicago and East St. Louis, the strip club capital of the midwest. It was a little creepy at times driving through Illinois, due to the rain, and because of the lack of traffic, very little light anywhere. Plus I was listening to the Swans' Children of God album.

Missouri: I love rolling into St. Louis from the Illinois side. First, it's because I'm leaving that dreaded state. But it's also because I love seeing the St. Louis skyline coming in from the east. St. Louis doesn't have the most impressive skyline, but the Arch definitely makes it look nice. I never tire of seeing the city coming in from the east. As I crossed the Mississippi, I knew I had to come back home gangsta style. So I switched from the Swans album to Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001. Word.

Now I'm back home and am relaxed. I wish I could spend more time here and hang out, but tomorrow I'm heading out to the Windy City to look at apartments.